1 st West Africa Islamic Investment Forum

1. 1st West Africa Islamic Investment Forum • Date: 28th February - 1st March, 2011/ 26th – 27th Rabi’ul Auwal 1432 A.H. • Venue: Tahir Guest Palace Kano, Federal Republic of Nigeria

2. INVESTMENT POTENTIALS IN THE ECOWAS TRADE ZONE with emphasis on GHANA By Abdel-Majeed Haroun(PhD) Ghana 1st West Africa Islamic Investment Forum February 28th –March 1st, 2011 Kano, Nigeria

3. FDI POTENTIALS in the ECOWAS • Trade Zone • Trade & Commerce • Agro-Industry • Transport • Tourism/Hospitality • Education • Construction, Manufacturing • Telecom & other Communication • Charity Orphanages, • Sports Development for Youth Excellence • Mining • Water • Energy • Finance & Banking • Health Overview

4. FDI Potentials Soccer + Non-Traditional Sports (e.g. Golf, Archery, horse riding)

5. The Philosophy of This Paper • SOURCES OF ISLAMIC FINANCE ARE & OTHER FDIs are ASSURED of Excellent RETURNS by Investing in ECOWAS ZONE; • ECOWAS TRADE ZONE MUST IMPROVE ON INVESTMENT ENVIRONMENT IN RESPECTIVE COUNTRIES BECAUSE MONEY IS A COWARD. (ie. Peaceful Democratic Dispensation with INCENTIVES to Investors e.g Ghana Freezones

6. GHANA FREEZONES INCENTIVES • Free Zone Act (1995) offers: • No conditions or restrictions on: repatriation of dividends or net profit • 100% exemption from payment of direct and indirect duties and levies on all imports for production and exports from free zones; • Total exemption from payment of withholding taxes from dividends arising out of free zone investments;

7. AGRO-INDUSTRY OPPORTUNITIES Starting Line : To create wealth and spread it among the population of ECOWAS agriculture is the logical place to start. • Justification to begin with Agro-Industry: • It is currently the cornerstone of income • generation in ECOWAS. • It absorbs at least 40% of ECOWAS Labour • force. 7

8. AGRICULTURAL SECTOR INVESTMENTS • Beef Cattle Ranching • Export Mango Production, Processing • Woodlot Production • Sugar Cane Production, Processing • Cashew Production, Processing • Vegetable Oil Production, Processing • Other Horticultural Crops Production Processing (e.g. Peppers, Pineapples • Fishing Trawlers Supply & Fishing • Agricultural Input Supplies (e.g.: Fertilizers, Weedicides, Veterinary Drugs, Yellow Maize for Poultry Sector, Mechanical Equipment―Tractors, Machines, sacs & packing materials etc)

9. SHEA BUTTER: A BLESSING from a MAGIC Tree 9

10. SOME USES OF SHEA BUTTER Economic Uses raw materials in pharmaceutical industries hair moisturizers SKIN CREAMS Traditional medicines TERMITE REPELLANT

12. COST : BENEFIT OF SHEA BUTTER FACTORY • Fixed Assets (Factory etc) $ 8,625,000 • Pre-Operating Costs (Stocks, legal) $ 4,450,000 • Cost of Sales (Packaging, Freight etc) $ 1,902,151 • Total 10-Yr COSTS $ 24,919,428 REVENUE Crude Butter 30MT/day*10yrs@$470/MT $ 47,940,000 Animal Feed 10MT/day*10yrs@$180/MT $ 6,120,000 • Total 10-yr Revenue $54,060,000 • 10-YR GROSS PROFIT = $ 29,140,572

13. Other Agro-Industry Products Pawlonia is the fastest growing hard wood in the world,. It is drought resistant and can grow virtually anywhere except in snow areas and waterlogged places. It takes 8 years to provide wood that traditional Hardwood trees will take 50 years to produce. 100 acres Pawlonia will yield $3million plus opportunity to reap carbon credit dollars from plantation.. Used in construction of luxury boats, as electric poles, in musical instruments etc. THE PAWLONIA Timber Instrumentation

14. Lumber price comparison - per 1” x 12” x 12”). • TreePrice • Pawlonia $3 - $10 • Cherry $2.0 • Oak $0.70 • Walnut $0.60 • Maple $0.55 • Cedar $0.35 • Pine $0.35

15. Other Agro-Industry Products THE FISH AND FISHING INDUSTRY Why Ghana needs FDI in fishing? Due to annual fish deficit of 40% • Fish importation in XS of $300m/annum. • Two Investment Strategies: • Take Share of $300 Import s by Trading or • 2. Own Fishing Boats 15

16. MINING INVESTMENT • Support Supplies to Small Scale Investors • Large Scale Mines,― Partnerships/Buy-offs • Mining of Non-traditional Output: Clay • Trade in Precious Minerals, Belgium is heart of Diamond Business, Why not West Africa? • Salt Production, Processing and Trade • Environmental Reclamation of Mined out Areas via Tree Cropping

17. The Mining Sector:THE SALT INDUSTRY • The DYNAMIC WEALTH Generator (Non Extractive, Produced as long as there is sunshine and seawater). • Salt has been associated with over 2,100 identified uses in human life! • Currently Total ECOWAS zone Demand is 973,000 MT with DEFICIT of 600,000 MTs • Nigeria alone imports over $2.0 Billion

18. SALT INTAKE ESTIMATIONS IN ECOWAS

19. [1] MT stands for Metric Tons DEMAND FOR SALT IN ECOWAS

20. COST-BENEFIT ANAYSIS IN SALT PRODUCTION $15.9m investment in salt will yieldMarginal Revenue of $14.2m in 5yrs.

21. MINING: THECLAY INDUSTRY IMPORT BILL FOR CUPS, PLATES, BATHROOM TUBS & BASINS, WALL TILES, HEAVY DUTY ELECTRIC INSULATORS IN XS OF 10 BILLION ANNUALLY Abundant in ALL ECOWAS States and at earth surface no deeper than 10m. Therefore easier to mine than both Gold and salt. • Can be a rewarding Investment. That this is a major export from oil rich Abu Dhabi means revenue there from can be appreciable.

22. TRANSPORTATION AND CONSTRUCTION It takes a shorter time to travel from London or Amsterdam to Accra than from Bamako to Accra. Also, a return ticket Accra-Kano-Accra, at $740 can buy Air Brussels Accra-London-Accra costs $761

23. There is potential to invest in the construction industry, rail and water transport systems within and between ECOWAS states. • It will take longer to move from the Island to Murtala Airport than from Heathrow to Barking in East London. • The major limitation to the construction of a much need intra-city rail in Lagos or Accra will be Finance.

24. ESTATES DEVELOPMENT E

25. HOUSING ESTATES DEVELOPMENT • Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast are recovering from conflict and are reconstructing cities. • Gambia, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea are new Oil exporting countries for whom a boom in the Estate development sector will be vibrant. • There is therefore opportunity to use Funding from Islamic Finance sources.

26. COMMODITY TRADING Most ECOWAS states are net importers of commodities such as grains and sugar. Ghana for instance imports over one Billion USA dollars ($1,000,000,000) worth of sugar and rice alone in a year. In the short term investment opportunity will be to enter into trading and enjoy a share of the import revenue. In the Medium to Long term, rice and sugar plantations and processing factories offer remunerative opportunities for investors.

27. HEALTH Health is wealth. There is a growing demand for more specialist medical facilities because most complicated referrals in Nigeria and Ghana for instance are sent to two other African states Egypt & S. Africa at high FOREX expense to the nations. In here is a pointer for investment potential.

28. EDUCATION and SPORTS • Education is the leveller. The ward of the poor and of the rich have equal opportunity for successful livelihood given a good education for both. • Yet schools from Kindergarten to Tertiary institutions are seemingly choked if Ghana provides a good example. • Further in an era where distance learning has been facilitated by advances in technology, investment in linkages with reputable institutions such as Harvard will bring valued quality education to the door step of wards within ECOWAS states who cannot otherwise support studies overseas. • Finally, sporting schools of excellence will be beneficial to the development both of traditional (football) and Non-traditional (Golf, Archery and Horse Show-jumping).

29. BANKING AND FINANCE • Finance is both the fuel and lubricant for business. • Yet availability of flexible and easy access venture capital is notoriously lacking in the ECOWAS states. • In the case of Ghana offshore banking is the easiest entry point for the investor as there is no need for capitalisation or landed office infrastructure. Only needed is an affiliation with a reputable foreign bank, an office and the technology to conduct business transactions.

30. OTHERS • ENERGY ELCTRICITY • COAL, OIL & GAS • WATER • CULTURE & TOURISM • ALTERNATIVE SPORTS INVESTMENTS • HUMAN RESOURCE OTHER THAN FORMAL EDUCATION (EG. JOB CENTRES & EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES, GENDER BASED TRAINING • NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES